VietNamNet Bridge – Many kidney patients from Ha Nam, Nam Dinh, Ninh Binh and Hai Duong provinces have had to stay in Hanoi for a long time for medical treatment at hospitals in the capital. They are required to have kidney dialysis, a process which purifies their blood given their improperly functioning kidneys.

Residents at the kidney dialysis community harvest vegetable seedlings

The treatment forces them to stay close to hospitals because the kidney dialysis takes place three times a week. Growing demand for living in the capital for treatment of kidney patients has created a community at a rented house area in Ngoc hoi Village in Thanh Tri District.

To cover their daily expenses and costs for treatment, they have to do a variety of jobs from being xe om (motorbike taxi), folding papers for packaging to growing bean sprouts and vegetable seedlings.

The head of the kidney dialysis community in Hanoi, Pham Van Hong, 50, who has stayed at the area for ten years, shows vegetable seeds which have germinated       Nguyen Van Cao, 50, soaks seeds into water         Bui Thi Huong, who has had kidney dialysis for eight years, is about to deliver vegetables and folded paper. She says growing vegetable seedlings helps each person earn around VND500,000 per month (US$22.4)       Due to their sickness, they need two people to carry a basket of vegetables which weighs around ten kilograms – Photos: Hai Duong

SGT